This morning's prompt is 'aspen'.

"I miss the aspens," Cathy said. They were finishing up, putting away tools and supplies while the 'volunteers' had self sorted into the obvious groupings.

Wendy thought about it and asked, "Back in Colorado? Fort Collins?"

"Yeah. Up above the death zone, and, so I hear, down in the ruins now. Aspens are colony critters and hard to kill, if they have a decent chance."

"Like us."

"Yeah." Cathy looked over at Wendy. "Sorry cousin-"

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. I tried not to drag you into my messes, but I did it anyway."

"Hey, nobody here but us aspens, okay?"

"Okay."